Within a reasonable time: the history of due and undue delay in civil litigation

As it becomes clear from the contributions to this volume, delay in civil litigation is a central issue in the Western legal tradition. It cannot be avoided since justice cannot be done without a proper investigation of the case at issue and this takes time. Justice and procedural delay are therefore virtually synonymous. However, even though delay is unavoidable, it becomes problematic when it can be qualified as »undue«. […] the present volume contains a fascinating collection of causes of due and undue delay in civil litigation […] as well as measures to reduce the time needed to arrive at a final decision of the case. Therefore, this collection of essays may not only be worthwhile for the historically interested lawyer, but most likely also for those with an interest in the improvement of the procedural systems of our modern world.